Local residents told the newspaper that they had a very reclusive lifestyle, with very little contact with neighbors. They had four or five dogs and five or six cats.

Based on the initial investigation the police assume that they two women committed suicide. They seem to have deliberately stepped onto the rails after the beams were down. A fourth dog survived the tragedy and was cared for by animal ambulance staff.

An eyewitness also thinks it was suicide. They were standing at the rail crossing some time before the barriers were lowered to warn of an oncoming train, he said to the Gelderlander. "They stood there, even before the barriers went down. When the barriers were all the way down, the pair was gone. A split second later the driver started honking and turned on his big lights."